I flew out to Reno last week and drove this Taco back to VT. One of the best weeks of my life. My good friend since forever met me out there, and we had a grand old time.

Its a bit of a beater, but completely rust free. Has some shady paint work, but the bones are perfect for what I want. I totally fell in love with it over the trip. I think this might be the perfect vehicle for my life and location.

Not too exciting, but I am going to put a lightly tuned ALH tdi in here and daily the poop out of it. Right now I am just getting all the suspension and chassis stuff in order. Planning to start the swap next winter.

Got the front end apart in my shop now getting tightened up and installing some adjustable bilsteins. Going to slap some better wheels and tires on it, add some helper bags to the rear and a legit trailer hitch.

the german wrote:Sweet! What are your transmission plans? adapter plate to the yota box?

Yes. The gearing in the truck now appears to be almost perfect for a TDI. I've been after this guy for several years to make an adapter for a Toyota. http://gastodiesel.tdconversions.com/

His adapter setup is much better than the other designs out there for the TDI-Toyota swaps.

He finally let me know he was going to produce the TDI-22R adapter, and i started truck hunting.

I plan to use a 22re flywheel machined to fit the larger v6 clutch. Luckily, there have been several pioneers of this swap, and it feels like most of the major issues have presented themselves. I think it should be a fairly straight forward project. We shall see. I want to use all of the VW accessories with no custom belts or brackets. Not sure if that will be possible.

Nice! I'm driving the same thing while I'm here in Nicaragua. 97 red taco with the 2.7L. It's such a slow piece of shit but otherwise I actually really like the truck. It's super simple, easy to work on, it's just that I don't speak the language here and getting parts is difficult. When the one I'm driving builds up enough heat in the engine bay I lose about 1/2 power... I'm assuming it's a coil or something with the ignition, and if not definitely another sensor because it's heat related. I'll be going up a hill or just cruising around town slowly and suddenly BWOOOAAA 1/2 power and it's even slower. Power will come back if I can keep speed up around 30mph.

This will be an awesome swap! I seriously kind of want one when we get back home in a week.

Matt, yea, old toyotas are awesome! I've had an 85 4runner wheeling truck, but it was no good for driving around. I had another 96 taco, but it was a terrible rust bucket. They are a great mix if truck and car. The handling isn't really as bad as it might seem, easy to park, very capable off road and dead nuts simple.

I dont mind the 2.7 engine, as long as you think of it as a tractor engine. Performance is pretty laughable though. I can't imagine getting around on half power

I think a 120-130 hp TDI will move it really well and still be able to retain excellent reliability. Plus the cool factor is there for me with a mini-diesel truck.

I want to retain as much of the beatability as possible. The taco weighs a lot more than a TDI car, and I'll definitely haul an inappropriately heavy load with it from time to time, so its going to be a canned tune on an ALH with either the stock vnt15 or a slightly larger turbo from a b5.5 passat. Probably use the passat turbo since the fitment looks better for a longitudinal setup.

lorge1989 wrote:Just put a BHW in it instead of the ALH. Tune it, delete in the balance shaft and be happy with 200 hp.

BHW is a possibility for sure. ALH engines are so plentiful around here, and I have an ALH complete parts motor and a mk4 ALH car that may be a parts car soon too. Availability and a bit more simplicity make the ALH attractive to me.

After owning an ALH for a few years and now a BEW... I would go ALH hands down. Why the fuck would I want injectors in the head plus wiring and EUGHHH fuck that. Just my $.02. I can't wait to get out of this fucking BEW Jetta. Just not my jam I guess.

chaloux wrote:After owning an ALH for a few years and now a BEW... I would go ALH hands down. Why the fuck would I want injectors in the head plus wiring and EUGHHH fuck that. Just my $.02. I can't wait to get out of this fucking BEW Jetta. Just not my jam I guess.

Yea, I've never had a better, easier to fix and more reliable engine than the ALH in my jetta. would be hard to top that.

chaloux wrote:After owning an ALH for a few years and now a BEW... I would go ALH hands down. Why the fuck would I want injectors in the head plus wiring and EUGHHH fuck that. Just my $.02. I can't wait to get out of this fucking BEW Jetta. Just not my jam I guess.

Not sure if directed at me or not, but the BHW is not a BEW. BHW is beefy and built for the abuse, giant rod bearings and VW put this engine in vans. Also doesn't the ALH head bolt onto the BHW block? Keep you VE if you insisit.

chaloux wrote:After owning an ALH for a few years and now a BEW... I would go ALH hands down. Why the fuck would I want injectors in the head plus wiring and EUGHHH fuck that. Just my $.02. I can't wait to get out of this fucking BEW Jetta. Just not my jam I guess.

Not sure if directed at me or not, but the BHW is not a BEW. BHW is beefy and built for the abuse, giant rod bearings and VW put this engine in vans. Also doesn't the ALH head bolt onto the BHW block? Keep you VE if you insisit.

That is true, the ALH head does indeed bolt up. This is the engine I would prefer to use, but the availability of straight ALH engines will likely make that my choice. They are everywhere for cheap now.

awesome to see this project coming along, i loved my old 89 yota truck and with a TDI will be great. I still plan to TDI the van and possibly a c4 avant.....although you talk about simplicity why not the MTDI. the eurovan has manual windows/heat no power options and with a mtdi pump the ultimate of simplicity in my eyes...

The ETDI swap is so simple, once the harness is pared down. Electronic control of the TDI makes it so much better in every way in my opinion. -full glow plug control-working OBD plug and check engine light for VT inspection Nazis. This alone makes the ETDI swap a requirement in my opinion. -cruise control-viable tach output-engine tuning variable with variable outdoor conditions

Some people love an MTDI, but it does not make sense to me, especially when swapping into an OBDII vehicle.

not a lot to report. I finished my complete suspension makeover, added some new wheels and tires, some hella driving lights to aid with not hitting deer, added a skid plate as the factory stuff was missing, scrounged up a factory jack kit/OEM spare tire, added a class 3 trailer hitch, replaced all the ball joints, power steering pump, had the truck aligned, added airbags to the rear etc.

Been enjoying having a truck to navigate mud season in Vermont and to use to haul building materials for my house project. On the hunt for mk4 doner cars as I want to complete the swap over the next winter.

I bought a complete new set of OEM mud flaps with all brackets and hardware, which was really extravagant, but I felt like the truck needed them, and I couldnt make the cheapo aftermarket flaps work right and look right.

Found the engine for my swap, thanks shawn. Got a running 2001 ALH jetta with a flakey automatic trans (the autos had a bigger injection pump, which is good).

The car starts up alight, but stumbles for a couple seconds but otherwise runs very well with no codes. Sort of seems like the glow plugs are not working. Hopefully the 11mm pump is good on it. It runs smooth and no smoke, turbo spools up and it seems to have plenty of power.

towing with the 3rz 4 banger is pretty funny. I did a little bit of twin stick shifting through the transfer case on hill starts.